Hello everybody...

The last "XV or not XV" topic is too long to continue it. Lets post our news, info, opinions etc in this new one.

BTW thanks for your questions and information you post there. I'll gather as much info as i can and post'em here real soon...

Hehe, I'm here too

Cosmic Dreamer hi again...
This forum becomes my second nature

Yes the XV matrix control is like Triton's AMS but with more editing depth. Nothing like visual editing (JD990) or touch editing (Triton) but almost any editing parameter can be changed from others. Unfortunately there is no waveform editing on XV as on Triton but anyway XV is a S&S and not sampler.

BTW i also think that 5080 will add to your Triton. In my setup 5080 gave excellent and realistic audio and that's the point (for me).

Hello,

Well: my desicion is made up. I think I'll play with my triton, JP8080 and XV5080 for a long time. I'm not going to buy anything else except for the expansion boards/CD's for thsee synthesisers but definitely not a 3d device.

6 years ago if you would want the power of thse 2 devices (triton and xv5080) you needed at least 5 synthesisers. regarding polyphony and expandability. You could only put 1 expansion board in the JV80 and one in the JD990. Virtual analog wasn't even being introduced, you needed to dig for second hand juno's etc.. wich was .. again.. keyboard and not to forget, expensive.

I always look at the whole thing with a cost effective mind. I think one should buy the most powerfull and versatile setup while not squeezing your wallet.

My triton has the MOSS board, the raw analog power of that thing adds up to the more warmer sound of the JP8080. So the polyphony problem is solved I can use 18 voices of analog sound + a vocoder no less.

The triton gives the user options to expand its sound with the sound set you like most (provided that Korg will give us a library of expansion boards in the future to choose our most desired set from). I can almost say that this synthesiser, with its extensive effects, and routing and diversity in sounds has given me the most satisfaction I've ever had from a synth, regarding creativity-under-one-roof. The percussion sounds very effective. My opinion is that Roland lacked a bit in that department and it doesn't really seem that, if you DON't buy the drum expansion card (SRX-02) for the XV's, you are going to be exhillerated that much. Drum kids from Roland are good as a standard, but it always sounds better on their expansion cards .

The waveforms from Roland are superior though. In triton , when you play a string, I'm always annoyed with the looping that you can clearly hear.

Back to expandability. With Roland you already have a wide library. I'd like to install a World, Orchestral 2, techno and vintage synth board in all the SRJV slots for the xv5080. This way, I can start making music in a complete diverse way because all these sounds range from worldly sounds to sci fi sounds, They enable you to get inspiration for almost every genre of music.

Then we didn't even talk about the nex srx boards, I hope that Roland will do some efforts there too. I'm not so enthousiastic for keyboards of the 60s/70s, yet they should ..for example.. do an effort to make a super realistic choirs board. You have it on a sample CD, all done by the london symphonic choir, so why can't they do it for an SRX board?.

I have chosen the XV5080 to replace my old JV-1010/1080, not only because of the catchy sounds and behaviour of these devices wich I came to like very much. (standard patches + fluid way of editing) but because these sounds are beefed up in a 24bit way. I can digitally connect this with R-bus to my vm3100pro. + the XV5080 gives you much more, sample player, expandability, visual editing. These are advantages on an already legendary synthesiser that I wouldn't want to miss..

So why do I say all this? Just because I'm proud of my small studio that's why

CD

Can someone go into some detail about the arpeggiator on the XV? All I read is "Advanced Arpeggiator"...as if that means anything. I've seen there are something like 48 programs...can you sequence your own? The EX5R gives you a 4 track sequencer for the arpeggiator and the Triton's dual channel arp is really fun to play with. Both of these support multiple ON/OFF styles (latch, hold, etc...)

Arpegiator in an XV?? Wait a minut
INRAYYYYY !!!

lol, I never knew there is one myself but maybe he knows........

Hello again...

First about arpeggiator. There is a very capable arpeggiator but only on XV88 keyboard. It has 45 preset styles with regular chords or lowest/highest note progression. Most of presets are chord / quitar patterns nice for modern and classic parts.
XV88 apreggiator sends midi notes and receives midi clock sync. It's much like Yamaha S80 arpeggiator. User can use matrix editing parameters and slider/D-Beam controllers to live control its functions. Do not expect too much from XV arpeggiator. XV88 has no onboard SEQ so it has some limited (but excellent sounding) arps. If you have experience from XP80 or Yamaha S80 arpeggiators you know what you can expect from XV88 arp. I must admit that it sounds more natural than the above keyboards.

Cosmic Dreamer i think that we share the same studio setup
I also use Triton + MOSS + XV + other and found their audio combo excellent. Using those boxes in my home studio i have better sound than five years ago using a whole pro studio. Yes Triton has great specs but real poor realistic sounds (like piano Using an XV things change to better for both of them, especialy if you drive XV outputs to Triton FX inputs (!)
I've tried such combinations and found that twenty four hours in a day are not enough . Sometimes i missed my old wood piano without DSPs CPUs etc. That time i had scores in front of mine, now i have service manuals and circuit diagrams, monitors, bla bla bla...

See you soon...

PS: If you want onboard music pattern programming, sequencer with MC80 functions, disk drive, large LCD and other workstation gadgets wait some months for the new Roland keyboards line. I'm always looking for "inside" information.

[This message has been edited by Inray (edited 05-24-2000).]

Hi...

Inray and the rest friends thanks for valueable information you post in this nice forum. I was reading Inray's info about Roland XV-88 and XV5080 at least two months before Roland actually introduce XV. Here in Japan is also too difficult to find XV in the market. Roland tolds us that Europe and US have ordered almost all their stock. I finally bought XV88 and it's a wonderful synth.
I post this note to told you about arpegiator but Inray did that before so i just aggree with him. Inray why did you stop sending your information and answers to mcs newsgroup ??? I'll stay here in this forum learning from all of you and giving to you any information i have.

I have a question. Is there a possible way to have SPDIF digital out on XV88 ? I have a creative sb live platinum but i can not connect it.

Hello,:

I have a question (having an answer would be rediculous no?).....

Could it be that the extra sounds on the XV series would be brought out as an expansion board for the jv2080/1080/1010?. While I would comment that it's highly unlikely because of the 4switch velocity etc...

WIth Roland you never know

CD

Hi,

Sierra many times i found your newsgroup dead or empty of message so i stopped posting there. About SPDIF the answer is no. Unfortunately Roland offers RBUS digital multi-interface only on XV-5080 and not on 88. I think that it's an odd omission as all modern studios have direct hdd recording now. Anyway you can connect analog outputs to your soundblaster with no problem as XV88's outs have excellent s/n ratio. I use XV88 driving a Fostex VM200 analog inputs and XV5080 spdif in digital inputs with no audible difference on output. You can do the same on SB and a mixer.

CosmicDreamer,
That's a nice thought. The problem is that new sounds have new multisamles mostly stereo ones that use a huge amount of memory so old cards cannot hold much of them. There is also the convertion issue as new samples use a new 24 bit algorithm format that doesn't exist on older synth engine. And finally new sounds are so good not only because are great sampled. The heavily use excellent 24 D/A convertion circuits found only on XV.

I also believe that Roland will stop make older cards (SRJV) although i don't like that. They are going to replace their whole synth line with new (XV based) workstations and sound modules using new audio format.


[This message has been edited by Inray (edited 05-25-2000).]

Hi, inray

Yep, I already explained something like that to the person that asked me this question. ..

I like to think of the XV as the masterplan joint of every good synth that roland ever made, boxed into a device with the needed poliphony...

Do the LFO's stutter sometimes while playing simultaneous parts?..

CD

Thanks for the info on the arp, Inray...of course one answer leads to many more questions.

First, the background...I am a techie and LOVE toying around with the digital side of things...I'm a *cough* competent keyboardist with some formal musical training and a well trained ear. My wife is the musician, BA in music, owns copyrights to songs, the whole nine yards.

We each have some old equipment and we're now in a position to start getting with the times. Predominantly we're looking for something that will serve as a virtual band/orchestra. My wife's interests in writing and recording are more varied than mine...jazz, orchestral, rock. So the sounds we're mainly interested in are piano, organ, strings, woodwinds, drumkits. Some world sounds would be good too.

We also want 88 keys to practice our piano chops.

My first instinct was to get the Triton because it seemed to be the all in one with an easy to use interface.

But then I started playing around with some other brands and I wasn't satisfied with the Triton as much. I didn't like the piano sounds in comparison to the Kurzweil, but I hated the interface on the Kurzweil. I love the feel of the xv-88 but I miss some of the gut level control that the Triton has. Etc.

Now my thinking is to by a keyboard controller (leaning towards the Oberheim MC-3000) and then get a sound generator, maybe the EX5r or the xv-5080. This would leave room to grow with more racks as needs aren't satisfied and new stuff comes out.

Also, for tracking and recording, I was thinking of getting the digi001.

Is this sound or am I getting over my head?

Cosmic Dreamer, digiboy and the rest hi,

First i'm very pleased with this forum just because so many nice people like you, are here and everyone has something to add to our knowledge.

CD i didn't notice an LFO issue but i'll do some tests tomorrow (because my wife will kill me if i play now 03:00 am)

digiboy i absolutely aggree with you on your opinions. I'm also an engineer (electronics) and i play keyboards, starting from piano, the last 25 years. My wife plays quitar but hates cables i have around my small room. Last years i had XP80,EX5,and JVs plus some Emu racks as my main setup. Just before some months i sold almost all my gear and bought new stuff. I'm using mostly keyboard versions and a few racks because i take them with me, one at a time, in a pro studio near my home. My favorite sampler synth is K2600 but i hate its UI. It remind me an EPROM programmer i had once !!! Always i was looking for realistic grands, pads and vintage sounds. I bought K2600 and Yamaha S80 just for their pianos. After listening XV+SRX02 it was very difficult for me not to buy them.

This moment i use a XV88 + K2600 as master controllers, Triton and XV5080 for addon parts and i'm recording on a digital Fostex setup (8/16 tracks) and computer sequencer.

I like synth and digital audio technology and actually is part of my job. Most of the time i have circuit schematics, and open boards on my desk. That's the second reason (the first is sound) i like Roland's gear. They have some of the best digital sound implementations i ever tested. Also testing XV outputs on audio spectrum analyzer i found that Roland this moment has one of the best and lowest noice floor among other synths. That's the reason i post so many positive comments on these new boxes.

See you soon...

Hi all,



Of course you're getting over your head: we're all in 'over our heads', buried by manuals, etc.

Inray, I'm wondering if the 5080 is less suseptable to MIDI problems than the 2080 apparently is. Any difficulties or bottle-necking delay noted?

Along similar lines, I'm wondering if the benefit of 128 voices is available in practice, or just 'on paper': have you noticed any voices cutting out with dense multi-timbral musical passages?

Thanks,
Christopher

feefer,

I didn't notice on the XV the known 2080 MIDI/delay problems. I sent it bursts of multi notes and i found that its behavour is far better than JV.

The 128 voices are really available. I must say to you that if you have stereo sampled voices then the true polyphony is actually 64 but this is not a problem. BTW in any synth the stereo multisamples use dual oscilators giving just half the polyphony. I have noticed voice cutting out on some multi setups primary on sustains. I also noticed that the new OS is more clever to control this cutting using better LIFO algorithm and the cutting priority is far more logical than earlier Rolands. Ofcourse i would like having more than 128 voices but it's a good start point. As a final word i prefer 128 oscilators than Triton's 62...

INRAY

[This message has been edited by Inray (edited 05-26-2000).]

Hello,

Stupid question: what's in the box if you get the XV5080. Id really like demo's of new srx and srjv80 boards. When I bought my JV1010 I had a demo CD that only demonstrated boards untill hiphop. board 13 to 18 arn't demonstrated....

Question 2. is it really true that you can't use a normal d-sub to d-sub cable to use as an R-bus cable?

greets

CD

CosmicDreamer hi,

My XV5080 came in an ordinal brown recycled paper box with a manual, a reference cables but no demos CD or anything. The same about XV box. Roland distributor in my country (DIMITRIADIS S.A.) sent me an extra CD with SRX01,02 and some SRJV demos plus some S700 samples. The manuals also had many minor mistakes but maybe just because it was early made models. When they sent me (one month later) SRX cards their references was far better as well their package.

About R-bus cables: Yes it's true that there are some problems with some d-sub high density cable adapters but i tested a CableEye rbus cable with no problem. You can consult their site to find conversion solutions for use with Rolands, Tascam etc.

Thanks:

Tomorrow My site www.5080land.com will be updated with nice sounds from an XV + extra demo that's only on the XV88

CD

Hi guys,
This is my first time here and the community seems friendly and informative so I thought I'd introduce myself and ask a question. Does anyone know if Roland will make a fully weighted workstation based on the 3080? Last week I purchased the XV-88 and I love it. But, if down the line Roland comes out with a workstation model that has the fully weighted keys, I'll be kicking myself for not waiting.
Thanks